POOR PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN
2001 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 20E, Chicago, IL 60616
312-794-5335
Mr Jerry L Robinson, President and CEO
Mr Floyd Davis, Vice President
04-14-09
Antoinette Harrell
Gathering of Hearts
Dear Ms. Harrell,
In keeping with our conversation last week, The Poor People’s Campaign, Inc. supports the Gathering of Hearts Poverty Tour. We are also in support of Gathering of Hearts and SCLC public hearing in the town of Lambert, MS to address human right issues, such as affordable housing, health care, education, jobs and many other important issues.
We at the National office of The Poor People Campaign, Inc. support your march that will take place Saturday: June 20th in Jackson, Mississippi. We understand that people from all over the United States are expected to attend this much needed hearing, as well as participate in the Poor People's march.
As you know from 1965 and 1966, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. brought the brilliant organizing insights of the SCLC to the slums of Chicago to confront the evils of a number of slum lords. King moved his own family into a rundown housing unit in Chicago’s Lawndale community (renamed Slumdale at the time by its occupants), where they endured for a time the harrowing poverty, squalor, and overcrowding that other slum residents had endured for decades. I’m also reminded that Dr. King was able to inspire many grassroots people in Chicago interested in the Poor People’s Campaign, Inc.
Working with former associates of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., The Poor People’s Campaign, Inc. reestablished the long dormant Poor People’s Campaign here in Chicago, IL. Today, The Poor People’s Campaign, Inc., and home of President Barack Obama, is working to help poor and low-income people in Chicago and across the nation achieve economic prosperity and self sufficiency.
We agree with you Ms. Harrell when you said, "It is essential that we provide those who are in need with resources for standard living. Clean water, affordable housing, health care, 21st century education, jobs, recreation programs for the youth and public transportation, and it all begins with awareness of the problems that many people face on a daily basis."
The National office of the Poor People’s Campaign, Inc. stands by the Gathering of Hearts march on June 20 2009.
Sincerely,
Mr Jerry L Robinson
President and CEO
